Fox News White House Correspondent John Roberts turned the tables on Joe Biden Friday by using one of the president’s favorite catchwords against him.
Roberts was referring to Biden Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s effort to rationalize Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter after both she and Biden had repeatedly and forcefully denied that he would do so.
In her first press briefing since Biden went back on his word by issuing the pardon he insisted he wouldn’t grant, Jean-Pierre defended the president by claiming “circumstances have changed” since she and he repeatedly vowed that he wouldn’t pardon Hunter.
Asked by Fox News’ Sandra Smith to react to Jean-Pierre’s claim, Roberts choked back a laugh before calling “malarkey” on Jean-Pierre:
“You know there’s a word that Pres. Biden likes to use a lot: ‘malarkey.’ And I think you can probably apply that to a lot of what we heard coming from the podium today.”
Roberts then explained how the circumstances cited by Jean-Pierre had not, in fact, changed.
“Now, you want to know what’s really malarkey: when Karine Jean-Pierre said people don’t get prosecuted for this“ (Hunter Biden’s tax and gun charges), Roberts said, going on to quote administration statements refuting Jean-Pierre’s claims regarding both types of prosecutions.
“So, what she said on those fronts was absolute, unfettered malarkey – pure and simple,” Roberts concluded.
Law Professor Jonathan Turley agreed with Roberts’ assessment and explained why circumstances had not changed.
“Well, it’s a really extraordinary thing to watch: you have a person who spent so many press conferences vehemently denying that a pardon was even being considered,” Turley said, noting that the media had been reporting that Biden was discussing pardoning Hunter for months.
“And, while the president was vehemently saying he would not consider it, they were considering it - and, the president was lying,” Turley said:
“And, of course, any time a politician lies to the public, he says ‘Well, I changed my mind.’ But, this is not the type of thing that you have changed circumstances like the ones that are being cited.”
All of the factors Jean-Pierre cite were already well known to the president while he was insisting he wouldn’t pardon his son, Turley noted, calling the White House press secretary’s excuses “pathetic”:
“All of this was rather pathetic, in watching an effort to explain what is grossly unethical.”